Pad



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INVENTOR. BYWHLTER 5.FINNELL flTTDRNEYS Patented May 25, 1943 1 r;

PAD

Walter S. Finnell, Elkhart, Ind., assignor to Finnell System, Inc.,.a corporation of Indiana Application March 6, 1941, Serial No. 381,997

2 Claims.

This invention relates to pads and relates more particularly to pads made from metallic wool, such as steel wool as used with floor scrubbing machines; although the invention is by no means limited to such use as pads suitable for many other uses may be made of any suitable size and shape from steel or other metallic wool with or without the use of other materials.

An object of the invention is to provide an annular pad which is simple to manufacture in accordance with the method herein disclosed and which will be particularly eificient when used on rotary machines.

Another object is to provide a pad in which the metallic strands of which the pad is composed lie in the circumferential plane of rotation of the pad so that none of them lie in an axial plane at angles to the plane of rotation of the pad for reasons hereinafter given. T

Another object is to produce, as an article'of manufacture, a pad in which the strands of the material composing the pad are united, bound or fused together by welding or the like, at various points over the surface of the pad.

A further object is to provide, as an article of manufacture, a pad having the working surfaces of same in torous form; that is to say, having knobs or protuberances so that the working surfaces of the pad will not become smooth and slick in use.

By way of illustration, a pad will be described made out of steel wool for use with an ordinary rotary brush scrubbing machine. In such machines it is often customary to use a pad approximately fifteen inches in diameter and one inch thick, having a four inch hole in the center. Such pads are used by placing them on the floor and setting the rotary brush of the scrubbing machine on top of them. The bristles of the brush engage the upper surface of the pad, and as the brush is rotated, the weight of the machine holds the pad on the floor, and causes the scouring or other action desired. Such pads are used for surfacing, drycleaning and waxing floors, for polishing, buffing and many other purposes, with and without detergents, waxes and other compounds for treating the floors.

Heretofore such pads have been made by winding a strand or ribbon of steel wool on a mandrel to form a layer which may be withdrawn from the mandrel and then Wrapped around a core to form a toroidal coil in which the steel strands are arranged in elongated loops which lie in axial planes, the coil being flattened to form a pad.

Obviously, when such a pad is rotated, the

strands of the wool are at right angles to any protruding nails or splinters in the floor, and may catch and break. This carrying of the strands across the grain of the wood or protruding objects rapidly disintegrates the pad causing it to bunch up, making it uneven, and causing the cleaning machine to jump and vibrate. By the instant method these difiiculties' are eliminated as the strands of the wool are circumferentially arranged and will therefore lie parallel to most protruding objects which eliminates much of the breakingand bunching of the strands.

A further difficulty with pads, as used in the manner above described, is that the strands are of considerable length. Therefore, when one becomes loose a considerable portion of it is broken away; whereas, when the present method is used the strands are anchored or welded so that the sections between welds are comparatively short, say approximately three inches in the case of a pad fifteen inches in diameter, If a strand breaks'it is of a maximum length of three inches and usually if it parts, the ends, being short, are retained by the welds on the pad thereby increasing the life thereof. V In pads of toroidal form where the strands lie in axial planes and are continuous, the amount. of steel wool strand that can be put into the pad is limited, for as the wool is not anchored anywhere over the working surfaces of the pad it has a tendency to bunch up if broken at any point and if the pad is made of any substantial thickness it is impossible to use it under the average machine as the bunches become so large that the machine cannot be held on the works; whereas, by the method herein disclosed, substantial amounts of the material can be used in a pad whichcan b made of substantial thick-, ness as the strands will not give away until the pad is worn very thin as the same has no tendency to lump or bunch.

The manufacture of these pads may be carried out with any suitable equipment, and the following is merely illustrative of one form of such equipment that can be used.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a pad made in accordance with the invention herein disclosed.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the pad on the line 2-2, Figure l; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

A winding mandrel is prepared having a center core of the proper diameter which, for the pad before mentioned, would be four inches. This is equipped with heads slightly in excess of fifteen inches in diameter, if that is to be the finished diameter of the pad. If the thickness of the pad is to be one inch, these heads are spaced one inch apart on the mandrel and with it constitute a windin form.

The winding form is now rotatably supported, and a strip of ordinary steel wool ribbon one inch wide is wound thereon, the layers being wound one on top of the other until the total diameter of the winding is approximately fifteen inches. The outer end of the winding is temporarily secured and the pad is taken oil the form, one of the heads thereof being removable.

for that purpose. As such winding forms are in common use, and the details of construction are immaterial to the practice of this method, it is unnecessary to describe the winding form in detail.

Instead of one continuous ribbon of steel wool,

the pad may be formed of a plurality of pieces of ribbon wound one on top of the other as it is not necessary,v in order to carry out this method, that the ribbon be continuous.

After the pad has been formed the strands of material of which it is composed must be secured together, and to perform this step of the method various means may be used.

Referring to Figure 1, the numeral l denotes the complete pad which, has been wound up as just described. In order to secure the strands together so that the'pad will retain its shape, the pad is placed in a suitable welding machine and a plurality of welds, as shown in Figure 1, some of them being indicated by the numeral II, are made at various points about the flat surface of the'pad. These welds are shown in longitudinal section at Ila in Figure 2 and are shown in transverse section at Hb in Figure 3, and it will he noted, as more particularly shown at H0 in Figure 2, that the strands of steel wool are compressed and welded together, the thickness of the weld as shown in longitudinal cross section at Ila and transverse section at lib being about one-sixteenth of an inch, when the normal uncompressed thickness of the pad is approximately one inch.

The securing means, such as the welds. II (or any other means as hereafter referred to.) are radially disposed in respect to. the axis of the pad, and the Welds in each row may be spaced about three inches apart. It will be noted that the welds are discontinuous and staggered and that between each weld the strands form protuberances as indicated at I2 in the figure so that both surfaces of the pad are covered with these protuberances which aid materially in the scouring action, as wax or other material used with the pad can find lodgment between the protuberances so as to be held to the work in a manner that will be apparent from a study of the figures.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that an article of manufacture can be produced comprising a pad of steel wool, in which the strands of wool forming the pad are welded or otherwise secured together at various points over the surface thereof, whereby the strands are divided into groups forming protuberances between the welds and that the strands are laid up substantially circumferentially having the advantages herein before pointed out, and that as the welds extend radially from the center of the pad and are separated from each other only a short distance, that all of the strands forming the surface of the pad are held together at relatively short distances and that all of the ribbons are also held together to form the pad.

As the strands of wool lie substantially parallel to the plane of rotation of the pad, there is little tendency for them to catch in splinters, the ends of floor boards, nails, and the like, which merely pass through the strands lengthwise without tearing them; whereas, were the strands arranged in elongated loops lying in axial planes, they would be transverse to the points of nails, splinters, the ends of boards, etc., and would be violently torn apart as heretofore referred to.

7 While the term scouring pad has been used herein, it will be understood that the pad is not limited in any way to a scouring operation but may be used for any purpose for which said pad is suitable, and while the pad herein described is of the fiat variety, it will be obvious that the same advantages will be present in a pad of cylindrical or other formation for use in other machines than floor treating machines, such as tools for finishing and the like.

What is claimed is:

1. A new article of manufacture comprising a flat circular pad of steel wool, the strands of which lie circumferentially, and means for securing said strands together comprising a plurality of elongated welds in series differently spaced from the geometric center of the pad, each of said welds extending transversely of and joining a plurality of said strands.

2. A new article of manufacture comprising a flat circular pad of steel wool the strands of which lie circumferentially, and means for securing said strands together comprising a plurality of elongated welds in series diiferently spaced from the center of the pad, each of said welds extending transversely of a plurality of said strands, the welds of adjacent series being staggered relative to each other and reinforcing and stiffening said pad.

WALTER S. FINNELL. 

